First cholera pandemic devastated Korea in 1821

Streets of Seoul circa 1905-1910 / Courtesy of Robert Neff collection

By Robert Neff

Like a thief in the night, cholera crossed quietly into Korea through the Yalu River port of Wiju in early September 1821. It was part of the first cholera pandemic which began in 1817 in India and had spread to China killing hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people. Korea’s self-imposed isolation from the rest of the world was no protection from this disease.

Its arrival at Wiju went relatively unnoticed until people began to die from severe dehydration brought on by intense diarrhea. The pain was excruciating and some people claimed that it felt as if rats were gnawing their way out of their victim’s stomach. So violently painful were the deaths that one of the names for the disease is hoyeolja ― which roughly means a disease that made you feel as if you were being ripped apart by a tiger.

From Wiju the disease spread rapidly south. On Sept. 9, the governor of Pyongyang reported that the residents of the city were stricken by a strange and virulent disease. According to one witness, “no more than one or two out of ten patient survived” and within ten days more than a thousand people were dead.

Two days later, Seoul, with its large population and crowded and dirty living conditions, reported its first cases. According to the annals, the disease spread from one house to the next faster than fire and within ten days more than 10,000 Seoul residents were dead, including several high officials.

From Seoul the disease continued to spread throughout the country claiming the lives of tens of thousands of people. The only region spared was Jeju Island and the smaller islands in its vicinity. The epidemic finally abated at the end of November when the weather cooled and as winter descended, the shocked population was left to bury its dead.

The disease returned “with unabated fury” the following June. It appears to have originated in Seoul and from there spread north and south until the entire peninsula was suffering from its effects. Governors of northern provinces reported thousands of people had died from the new outbreak of the disease.

Even Jeju was not spared. In November it was reported that some 2,000 people on the island had died from the disease. King Sunjo (r. 1800-1834) sent his condolences and reminded the people that there was nothing they could do for the dead but to continue to live and that they should concentrate on the harvest.

According to Homer Hulbert, the devastation in human lives throughout the country was so severe that “houses were built at intervals along the roads, by the government, for the sake of those who might be struck down with the plague while traveling and gangs of men were kept busy along the main road burying the dead.”

Gathering from the annals, the region around Seoul was filled with people roaming the countryside seeking food and shelter. Some were seeking refuge from the disease while others were waiting to die. Bodies lay everywhere. The king was urged to segregate the infected victims from the general population. They would be provided with food and shelter ― presumably outside the gates ― and when they died they would be buried in deep holes. The uninfected refugees would also be gathered together and given shelter and food and then sent back to their hometowns to begin farming.

Eventually the cold weather brought the ravages of the disease to a halt. It has been estimated that more than 200,000 people died during the cholera epidemic but it was one (albeit possibly the worst) of many disasters that plagued Joseon during King Sunjo’s 34-year-reign and robbed the country of its population. In 1807, the population was estimated to be 7.6 million people but by 1835 it had dropped to only 6.6 million. For the survivors Joseon must have truly seemed like hell.

Robert Neff is a historian and columnist for The Korea Times. He can be reached at robertneff103@gmail.com.